Universities Archives - Page 3 of 20 - Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

August 26, 2017June 16, 2023

Who Heals Who?

We are always looking to receive new groups and individuals to visit us and share in the incredible work of Shoulder to Shoulder. Principle among the reasons for this is that people are the primary resource for development work. Shoulder to Shoulder is built upon the commitment of so many who develop relationships with the people of Southern Intibucá. But the more selfish reason for looking for new individuals and groups is that we have such a great time being their hosts. Generally, it takes us a lot of work to develop relationships with universities and groups to bring them to Honduras. But sometimes our opportunities just seem to fall out of the sky into our laps.

Sometime back in the Spring we got an email from an undergraduate student, Nava, at Duke University. The group, Project HEAL (Health Education and Awareness in Latin America), had been coming to Honduras annually with another NGO. It wasn’t going to work this year, and Nava was a little desperate to find another NGO to host them. We, of course were ecstatic, and even though we had something to learn about what they intended to do, and even though they were coming at a very busy time of our year, we immediately said yes. We figured we’d work out the details as we went along.
Five students, Nava, Noelle, Dahlia, Judy, and Lissa, would come to Camasca for five weeks to conduct four separate research projects on personal and community health issues. It would be during July and early August when Laura and I would be away for a time in the US; MAHEC would be here for two weeks in a forty person brigade; two MSW students from the University of Chicago would be doing an internship here. Then, to top it off, the surprise component would be that we would have to replace our brigade coordinator. Could we pull this off? Could we give Project HEAL a meaningful experience while we had so many other irons in the fire? Of course we could, and we did.

They wanted to live with families while here to get more of a feel for life in Camasca. We’ve done a little of this with volunteers, but finding homes for five students for five weeks was a big challenge. We contacted the teachers at the local primary school, the Urbana, who have been looking for ways to partner with Shoulder to Shoulder. Three teachers agreed to take the five students. There was a little bit of a catch, however. The Urbana wanted the students to teach English to the students while they were here. That wasn’t part of the project portfolio that Nava had given us. But when we approached him with the proposal, he graciously agreed. The students had never taught before. They had some anxiety about it when we picked them up in San Pedro Sula. But we had a feeling they might find some magic among the children.
They busied themselves with their four projects: Teen Pregnancy and Relational Dynamics in Adolescents; Self-Esteem for Adolescents; Cervical Cancer Attitudes, Awareness, Prevention and Treatment; and Trash Disposal and Related Attitudes/Behaviors. They visited families in the town center and among our smaller communities, doing interviews and conducting focus groups. They gathered their data, analyzed it, and put together some community trainings. They returned to the families and groups, shared their results, and taught about healthy practices. They did great work, and they will share with Shoulder to Shoulder the reports on their topics. We’re certain these will become valuable tools as we continue the work they invested in and prepare for their return next year.

I guess we could say they lived up to their project name and this was a ‘healing’ event. But we have a feeling that the really impactful moments of their time with us happened beyond their diligent work in a less anticipated way.
We planned a debriefing with the group on the day before they were scheduled to leave Camasca. Their visit to our home happened immediately following their going away celebration at the Urbana School with the teachers and the students. We couldn’t start the debriefing right away because the five Duke students all arrived at our house in tears. The children, the teachers, and the families with whom they stayed, all expressed their affection for them and how much they would miss them. The kids had come so close to them — and they so close to the kids — that they had indeed become part of this community. The families now had adopted a son and four daughters, new brother and sisters, to the point that one of the Duke students was speaking to us of her cousin when we realized that it was a cousin of the family with whom she was staying. Their study was very important and meaningful, and yet the memories impressed on their hearts may have little to do with the particulars of their service. Their memories will forever include hiking up mountains, attending a rodeo during the town’s fair, taking a trip to the hot baths of Gracias, Lempira, being cared for by a second mother when suffering a stomach virus, and most especially the joyous smiles of children who are so welcoming of new friends.

I suppose we often consider ‘healing’ a clinical response to persons who present themselves in need. We heal others when we diagnose their need and prescribe and initiate a treatment. But healing and finding health is so much more. It seems that these Duke students have taught and learned that healing is about meeting and being met, and ultimately loving and being loved.

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Nava, Noelle, Dahlia, Judy, and Lissa — you all have homes here. We look forward to your return.

July 2, 2017August 4, 2023

It Happened In The Rain

I have written a blog for every one of the brigade groups that have visited us in Honduras since Laura and I came to Shoulder to Shoulder almost three years ago. First, I think it is the least that we can do to celebrate and thank these groups that offer so much in the ongoing presence and mission of Shoulder to Shoulder. Second, I take some personal pride in being able to do this. But, on occasion we have not been as present to the brigade groups as we would like to be. That, unfortunately, was the case with the Virginia Commonwealth University / Fairfax Family Practice Centers / SAGE who were recently with us at their clinic in Pinares, San Marcos de La Sierra. Laura and I took a short vacation to the United States the day after they arrived.

Sandra Tandeciarz, one of the brigade leaders

19420778_10101819053988173_3493181690388755542_n — Michael Filak, one of the brigade leaders

We were fortunate to spend some time with the group on their first night in a hotel in La Esperanza. But we were off very early the next morning to catch our plane while they headed in the opposite direction to serve the people of Pinares. We had opportunity to speak with some of the leaders of the brigade about their ongoing work in Pinares. We are excited and encouraged by the continuing plans SAGE has to service the people of Pinares in development work even when the brigades are not here.

I don’t have much more to report other than what has been related to me by others. Jett is the pharmacist who has now come to Pinares twice with the group. The photos that you are enjoying have come courtesy of him. He was gracious in offering them to me, and as I asked him how the brigade went, he reported, “This brigade was certainly fantastic. The providers and students showed that a real team based healthcare system can work and that it can benefit any community.” This is certainly always true of VCU / FFPC / SAGE. There were a lot of teenagers on this trip, acting as translators and volunteering with the children. They seemed to bring a youthful spark to the activities. Jett’s photos certainly suggest that the smiles and laughter accompanied the brigade and extended to the children and families.

Edman, our Brigade Coordinator, shared with me that the brigade went well. Because I know them so well, I’m sure it was true. Still, Edman also shared that it rained constantly. Well, it is the rainy season and we get even more of it in this part of Honduras than others. The rain might have dampened the grounds, but never the spirits. Perhaps it even made some roads impassable by vehicle, but not by foot. It couldn’t stop VCU / FFPC from getting to where they were needed most, even when it took them three hours of hiking. It couldn’t stop their enthusiasm, and it certainly couldn’t stop the laughter and joy the group always creates.

Thanks for coming. We’ll be sure to be here when you come again.

photographs courtesy of Jett Nymann Paraoan

June 9, 2017August 4, 2023

The Boys at the End of the Road

The boys had been there all day long; three scruffy looking kids, probably 9, 10, or 11, years old, inseparable, taking in all of the unique goings-on. The Americans had come to their small village of Matazanos and had set up their health clinic at their school. The Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency program and Long Island University, School of Pharmacy, had teamed up for the third year to offer medical services in and around the municipality of Colomoncagua. This would be their last full day of their trip, and Laura and I had tagged along with them. It would turn out to be a most successful day, seeing over 100 patients in this very remote area.

Matazanos, Colomoncagua, Intibuca, Honduras

Matazanos is one of these tiny villages splattered all over the remote area of Southern Intibucá, never far in distance from the central municipality, but always a memorable trip. We took two pick-ups. With the team, the supplies, and the translators, the cabs and the beds of the pickups were packed tight. As we wound along the narrow, rutted out, washed out, muddy pass, I would hear whoops and hollers from the passengers in the bed as we slipped into a rut, climbed steeply up a hill, or passed under branches. The road is here for the occasional truck — never a car — that has to bring something in or out of Matazanos. The locals walk trails that are more direct, and probably in much better condition. In any case, the less than seven mile journey, even less on a straight line, took us about forty-five minutes before we reached Matazanos at the end of the road.

We arrived at the school, first through sixth (they were building the kindergarten), to a throng of children who, thanks to us, had the day off. The group panicked at first, thinking they needed to see each of the kids. But that would not be the case, they’d only see the kids who had health complaints. About mid-morning, all the kids got treated to a yoga session where they got to stretch like the mountains, the sun, cows, dogs, and cats, and make wonderful sounds. It was great exercise, disguised as a fun game (or perhaps a fun game disguised as a great exercise). The kids loved it.

I kept noticing the three young boys. They played in the yoga game, and loved it. Unlike the other kids who wandered in and out of the school, these three hung out all day long and seemed to be having the time of their lives. At one point, the three of them were lined up with their faces pressed against the bars of the window to one of the classrooms. Inside, the pharmacists and the pharmacy students were preparing the medications for the providers’ prescriptions. They were reading books and using apps on their telephones to understand the medications. The young boys had never seen anything like this. For them, it was the magic of alchemy. The Americans might just as well have been performing brain surgery.
Around lunch time I got a couple of minutes to speak with them. Their first question to me was where I and the visitors had learned English. I don’t think they understood when I answered that English was their first language, just as Spanish was theirs. As we were packing up, the boys were finally getting ready to leave. I got a few more minutes with them. I learned their names and a few other things. They wondered what the United States was like, but they had absolutely no context in which they could understand. All three of them had traveled to Colomoncagua (a one hour walk) which, for them, was the city. Though one of them had been to Camasca (a 45 minute car ride), that was as far as they had traveled. None had ever been to La Esperanza, the one place in the whole area that actually could qualify as a very small city. I asked them what they hoped to do when they grew up. They answered by way of their experience – they wanted to be farmers. I asked about being a policeman, or even a doctor like the ones they were seeing today. They giggled, such a fanciful idea from the strange gringo.

Their worlds are so small and their opportunities so limited. They will not go to school beyond the sixth grade. They will never travel beyond a ten to fifteen mile radius. But, oh boy, do they have curiosity! And I wondered who would ever nourish that curiosity? Who would ever help them to give some form to unfocused dreams? I0n a sense, Maine / Long Island gave them a great gift today: the ability to catch a glimpse of possibilities. Perhaps it is only a moment, a passing entertainment; something like taking a peek behind the tent at a traveling carnival. Still, isn’t there a great deal more hidden in the curiosity of young children? Maine / Long Island opened a door, and beyond the door, an unknown world. Perhaps if Maine / Long Island continue to come and build relationships (they already have and they have every intention of continuing), one of these boys, or any number of the children who come to know them, may find a new road.

Curiosity is a powerful thing. It won’t be satisfied or stifled. It is, of course, what causes many from here to dangerously cross borders and arrive without documentation or permission in the US. But curiosity, well-formed and given proper context, yields discovery and invention. Maybe, with the help of persons of integrity and generosity, such as those from Maine / Long Island, some of their curiosity and their dreams will flourish into new life.